A Tale of Two Tabbies

A Tale of Two Tabbies

by

Kathi Daley

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 by Katherine Daley

Version 1.0

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

This book is dedicated to the readers who pitch in and offer comments and suggestions when I ask for input. It is also dedicated to the fans who help to provide technical information when needed, including a friend who is retired military who did not want to be mentioned.

I also want to thank the very talented Jessica Fischer for the cover art.

I so appreciate Bruce Curran, who is always ready and willing to answer my cyber questions.

And, of course, thanks to the readers and bloggers in my life, who make doing what I do possible.

Thank you to Randy Ladenheim-Gil for the editing.

Special thanks to Nancy Farris, Pamela Curran, Vivian Shane, Joyce Aiden, Teri Fish, and Pam Woodfield for submitting recipes.

And finally I want to thank my sister Christy for always lending an ear and my husband Ken for allowing me time to write by taking care of everything else.

Come for the murder, stay for the romance.

Zoe Donovan Cozy Mystery:

Halloween Hijinks

The Trouble With Turkeys

Christmas Crazy

Cupid’s Curse

Big Bunny Bump-off

Beach Blanket Barbie

Maui Madness

Derby Divas

Haunted Hamlet

Turkeys, Tuxes, and Tabbies

Christmas Cozy

Alaskan Alliance

Matrimony Meltdown

Soul Surrender

Heavenly Honeymoon

Hopscotch Homicide

Ghostly Graveyard

Santa Sleuth

Shamrock Shenanigans

Zimmerman Academy Shorts

The New Normal

New Beginnings –
March 2016

Paradise Lake Cozy Mystery:

Pumpkins in Paradise

Snowmen in Paradise

Bikinis in Paradise

Christmas in Paradise

Puppies in Paradise

Halloween in Paradise

Whales and Tails Cozy Mystery:

Romeow and Juliet

The Mad Catter

Grimm’s Furry Tail

Much Ado About Felines

Legend of Tabby Hollow

Cat of Christmas Past

A Tale of Two Tabbies

Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery

Murder at Dolphin Bay –
March 2016

Seacliff High Mystery:

The Secret

The Curse

The Relic

The Conspiracy

The Grudge

Road to Christmas Romance:

Road to Christmas Past

Love in its purest form is selfless and eternal. It endures all things and exists independently of the opinion of others. Love that is born in the soul and lives in the heart, will thrive and prosper in spite of the challenges it must face and the hardships it must endure.

I really don’t know why I was surprised to find Theresa Lively’s cat locked in the confessional of a deserted church in the middle of a rainstorm. My life has been so bizarre as of late that I really should expect that almost anything that
could
happen
will
happen. Of course the fact that Theresa hadn’t shown up for choir practice and, as far as I knew, wasn’t even on the premises, did lend an air of mystery to the event that couldn’t quite be explained.

“Did you find the sheet music we’re looking for?” my boyfriend and co-choir director Cody West asked after walking in through the door connecting the main body of the church with the offices and classrooms. I imagine he must have come looking for me after I failed to return to the choir room in a reasonable amount of time.

“No, but I did find Sydney.”

“Sydney?”

I reached into confessional number one and picked up the reddish orange cat that was still cowering in the corner. I gently cuddled him to my chest before taking a step back so Cody could see what it was I was holding.

“Oh, Sydney,” Cody said as he recognized the cat. “I take it Theresa is around as well?”

“I haven’t seen her.”

Cody frowned. I watched his face as he worked through the same thought I’d been having since I’d discovered that Sydney was responsible for the strange scratching sound I’d heard.

“We’d better call Finn,” Cody suggested.

Ryan Finnegan, Finn for short, was the resident deputy of Madrona Island and my older sister Siobhan’s current boyfriend and ex-fiancé.

“Finn and Siobhan are planning to go out to dinner to celebrate some sort of an anniversary. I’m honestly not sure what sort, but Siobhan bought a new dress and everything. I hate to disturb them over a cat locked in a confessional. What if Sydney was simply locked up by some kids pulling a prank? Theresa does live just a block from the church. It’s totally possible Sydney was catting around the neighborhood when he was picked up and brought to the church.”

“I guess you have a point.”

I looked around the empty room as I tried to decide what to do. I’d been attending St. Patrick’s Catholic Church my entire life. The rows of wooden pews, the sturdy tile floor, and the beautiful stained-glass windows filled me with a sense of comfort and familiarity. As far as I could tell, nothing had been disturbed and there didn’t appear to be any signs of a struggle. Yes, it was odd that Sydney had been locked up, but I really did hate to disrupt Siobhan’s evening and we really didn’t have any reason to suspect Theresa was in any sort of immediate danger.

“Rehearsal is almost over. The parents should begin arriving any time. We’ll take Sydney home after the kids are picked up, and if we find anything to suggest foul play we’ll call Finn then,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I’m going to try calling Theresa’s house line again just in case she’s home. She is somewhat absentminded and she’s missed rehearsal before, so the fact that she isn’t here shouldn’t really be cause for alarm.”

“I’m sure it will be fine. I’ll head back to the choir room. It’s not a good idea to leave the kids alone too long.”

When my mother first suggested that I take over as director for the children’s choir I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it. I have a busy life and it seemed like it would be something of a hassle to fit one more thing into my schedule. I dragged my feet when it came to making a commitment, but as it turned out, directing the choir has been both fun and rewarding. If I had to do it over again I would leap at the chance to work with the twenty-four kids between the ages of six and fourteen who make up the eclectic and talented group.

“What are you doing with Mrs. Lively’s cat Ms. Cait?” Annabelle Sawyer asked when I returned to the room.

“I found him in the church,” I answered. “I’ll take him home if Mrs. Lively doesn’t show up. How about we practice the new number Cody added for Sunday’s performance before your parents arrive to pick you up?”

“I don’t know why you bother. Everyone but me is off key,” Annabelle complained.

“It sounded good to me when we practiced it last week,” I countered. Annabelle had a beautiful voice, but she was severely lacking in the personality department. As far as she was concerned, no one other than herself could carry a tune, and she was sure to let everyone know it. Repeatedly.

“That’s because you’re tone death. Trust me, it was bad.”

“I’m not tone
deaf
,” I defended myself. “And it wasn’t bad. Let’s take it from the top. And Annabelle, please remember that everyone has a differing talent level and rigid adherence to a standard only you can meet doesn’t make for a choir.”

“I just think I should sing the solos and everyone else should hum in the background or something.”

I rolled my eyes. The girl really was full of herself.

“What about Miranda?” Serenity asked.

Miranda Madison was a new member of the choir who had joined us for the very first time that day. She’d moved to the island to live with her grandmother after her parents were killed in a plane crash. So far she hadn’t said a word; her grandmother had told me that she hadn’t said a word to anyone since her parents’ death. I thought it odd that her grandmother would sign her up for the choir considering she didn’t speak, but when I asked her about that she’d shared with me that prior to the accident Miranda had loved to sing and she hoped being around music would ease her from the shell she’d been living in for the past couple of months.

I watched as Sydney approached Miranda. I couldn’t be certain, but I could swear I noticed a small smile on Miranda’s face when the cat jumped into her lap. Miranda didn’t say a word, but I did see her arms tighten just slightly around the furry orange body of the large cat.

“Miranda is going to keep an eye on Sydney for me,” I informed the others. “Let’s take it from the top, and this time remember the new bridge we’ve been practicing.”

I watched Miranda out of the corner of my eye as I led the kids through the number. I couldn’t hear anything, but her lips were moving, and it appeared she was talking to Sydney, who, oddly enough, seemed to be listening intently. I wasn’t certain if Miranda’s grandmother’s living arrangement would allow for a pet, but based on the light in Miranda’s eyes, I was definitely going to suggest she come by the cat sanctuary to take a look at the cats and kittens currently available for adoption.

“I’ll go get the car and meet you at the door,” Cody offered once the last of the members of the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Children’s Choir had been picked up. “No use both of us getting wet.”

“I need to run down the hall to pick up some notes Father Kilian wanted me to bring to the planning meeting for the community dinner. He said he has to go out of town for a few days and is going to miss the meeting, but he wanted to be sure his ideas were presented.”

“Okay. I’ll take Sydney with me. I’ll be waiting for you out front.”

I quickly made my way down the hallway where several offices were located. I let my way into Father Kilian’s and turned on the light. Just as he’d instructed, there was a medium-size envelope on his desk, which he’d assured me would contain his notes. When I reached for the envelope I noticed that a book of some sort had fallen to the floor. I picked it up and looked at it. It was a high school yearbook. Based on the year indicated on the cover, I was willing to bet it was Father Kilian’s own high school yearbook.

I opened the book and looked inside. The name Michael Kilian was written in a neat script across the top of the first page. I’d recently learned that Father Kilian had not only grown up on the island but had graduated from Madrona High School, where he’d dated my Aunt Maggie some forty odd years ago when they were both teenagers. While there were those around who probably remembered that fact, I was pretty sure I was the only one who knew how close he’d been to shunning his calling to the priesthood in order to run away with the love of his life.

Maggie never did say what it was that had changed his mind, but he’d ended up accepting the calling he was destined for, and Maggie had been living out her life alone. I suspected they each still had feelings for the other, but I also knew both respected the sanctity of the vow Father Kilian had taken, and neither, I was certain, would ever act on the emotions that had been left to simmer for close to forty-five years.

I set the yearbook on the desk and turned off the light. Cody was waiting for me. I’d thought about the love affair between Father Kilian and my aunt a lot since she’d shared her secret with me. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how difficult the choice that had faced them as teens must have been. Maggie said that as the eldest son in his family, Michael Kilian’s destiny was set before he was even born. It was tradition that dictated he would enter the priesthood, just as the eldest sons in the Kilian family had for generations before him.

I tried to imagine taking a step back and watching helplessly as Cody exited my life if he had inherited such a calling. I’m not sure I would have the courage to be as brave or selfless as Maggie if someday I were to find myself in her shoes.

Theresa Lively lived in a small but nicely kept up house in an old neighborhood just east of the church. When we arrived there I noticed the residence was dark. Cody and I rang the bell, but there was no answer. I hated to leave Sydney out in the rain, so I tried the doorknob to the front door, which opened easily. My plan was to simply set the cat inside and reclose the door, but when I leaned in to release the cat I noticed the interior of the house had been destroyed

“It looks like someone vandalized the place,” I commented.

I stepped inside with the cat and turned on the light nearest to the front door, with Cody following me. Drawers and cabinets were hanging open, their contents strewn across the floor. Much of the furniture had been displaced and every book in the floor-to-ceiling bookcase was lying in a pile at the foot of the shelving.

“Theresa,” I called.

There was no answer. I had a bad feeling about this.

“We’d better call Finn,” Cody said.

He made the call while I walked slowly down the hall. I prayed I wouldn’t find Theresa’s lifeless body, wishing I’d taken Cody’s suggestion to call Finn when we’d first found Sydney locked in the confessional. I wasn’t sure how I’d live with myself if I were to discover that the extra thirty minutes it had taken to turn the kids over to their parents and make the trip to Theresa’s home could have made all the difference in the outcome of the story.

Sydney trotted along beside me as I opened and closed each door in the dark hallway. The first room was a guest bedroom, followed by a bathroom, an office, and then a hall closet. Every room in the small house had been tossed as the living room had, but so far I hadn’t found a body, either dead or alive.

When we got to the room at the end of the hall, Sydney scratched to get inside. I really didn’t want to open this last door, but the cat seemed quite insistent, so I slowly turned the knob and stepped into the room. I held my breath as I flipped on the overhead light and looked around the space that Theresa obviously used as a bedroom. The dresser drawers were all open, their contents strewn around the room. The closet likewise had been ransacked, and the cosmetics, which I imagined had once been stored on the vanity, had been tossed randomly onto the bed. I slowly let out my breath when I realized this room was as bodiless as the others. What could someone have been looking for that would cause them to carry out such a thorough search of Theresa’s private space?

I stepped farther into the room. Sydney followed me inside and then trotted across the room and began scratching at the wall. I frowned. What was the silly cat up to? As far as I could tell, the spot on the wall where he was scratching was nothing more than empty space. I slowly crossed the room and knelt down next to the cat.

“What is it?”

“Meow.” The cat continued to scratch at the wall. Maybe there was a mouse in the wall, or maybe the cat was simply reacting to the chaos, but I didn’t think so.

The room was paneled with a whitewashed wood product that I imagined looked nice with the cheery fabric used for the comforter and curtains when the room was in order. I ran my hand over the place where Sydney was scratching, looking for anything at all that might have gotten the cat’s attention. At first I didn’t feel anything. The wall seemed smooth, the texture seamless. I was about to give up and head back toward the front of the house, but then I noticed that one of the boards was loose. It wasn’t so loose as to be obvious, and to be honest I most likely wouldn’t have noticed it at all if I hadn’t been so intent on figuring out what the cat was after. I slowly pulled the piece of paneling away from the sheetrock behind it to find a small metal box hidden inside the wall. I pulled out the box and tried to open it, but it was locked.

“Finn’s on his way.” Cody walked into the room from behind me. “He said not to touch anything.”